A $900,000 plan for renovating Valley Mission Park will be done in phases under a strategy approved Tuesday. The Spokane Valley City Council liked Deputy City Manager Mike Jackson's proposal to go ahead with $400,000 worth of work the city currently can afford.
Spokane Valley officials have some hard questions about a plan to ask voters again for an emergency communications sales tax. Even with a new 10-year sunset clause on the proposed 0.1 percent countywide sales tax, some City Council members and City Manager David Mercier are skeptical.
A $33.4 million bond measure next month would put a new library at the heart of the city center Spokane Valley officials hope to establish. The March 11 ballot proposal also would provide a new library at the eastern end of the city, on Conklin Road, and would expand the Spokane County Library District's Argonne Branch in Millwood.
The Spokane Valley Fire Department responded to 201 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday. Of the five in which fires were reported, all were minor or unfounded. One involved a fire in a Dumpster at 9405 E. Sprague Ave., Inspector Bill Clifford said.
A cold wind burnished a fine glaze on Sprague Avenue on Tuesday night, but Spokane Valley Public Works Director Neil Kersten didn't expect it to last. He warned the City Council to expect flooded streets by today. First, though, another storm was likely to dump 2 to 5 inches more snow on Wednesday, Kersten said.
Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson is openly critical of a proposal to record closed discussions. A bill in the state House of Representatives would require public officials to keep an audio recording of "executive sessions" for two years.
Nineteen structure fires kept Spokane Valley firefighters busy in the seven days that ended Wednesday. There were 274 calls of all types in that period.
The Spokane Valley Parks and Recreation Department has something for homebound parents and preschoolers who may be starting to get on each other's nerves. Several things, actually:
If Spokane Valley residents won't come to City Hall, Councilman Bill Gothmann would like to take it to them – either on cable television or in cyberspace. That way, council members could share the good times.
Snow plows were operating at full strength this week in Spokane Valley, but staffing levels sometimes depend on whether plow operators want to work. Business owner Richard Behm discovered that when he slid through two intersections on South University Road Jan. 20, on his way to a grocery store about 3 p.m.
People were mostly lucky in 196 incidents in which the Spokane Valley Fire Department was called in the seven days that ended Wednesday. Especially the man who suffered only singed hair and first-degree burns on his hands and face when a propane explosion destroyed his fifth-wheel trailer.
When Spokane Valley residents are going home for dinner at night, they don't want to slow down and smell the roses. Otherwise, they tend to like the city's proposed Sprague-Appleway corridor revitalization plan, if the 20 or so who turned out Thursday evening are representative.
Spokane Valley is starting to feel the pain of more mature cities that struggle with holes in their streets and holes in their wallets. The 5-year-old city has gotten by so far, but a long-term street maintenance crisis is looming, Finance Director Ken Thompson told the City Council Tuesday.
The best use for the old Valley Mission Senior Center may be to let firefighters burn it for training, but it might lead the Spokane Valley City Council to form a parks board. A parks advisory committee could weigh public opinion and recommend a new use for the senior center's portion of Valley Mission Park if the vacant building is removed, City Councilman Dick Denenny suggested.
If Spokane residents want a completed freeway north from Interstate 90, they'll have to pay. That's the growing consensus from state leaders as city and county officials contemplate ways to fund the southern portion of the 10-mile North Spokane Corridor.
The Spokane Valley City Council plans to save a $20,400 tree. Council members voted last week to purchase a dozen "tablet" computers at an estimated cost of $1,700 apiece as part of an effort to make their weekly informational packets paperless.
Developers can be a tough audience for municipal planners, but Spokane Valley's Scott Kuhta was unscathed Friday when he presented the city's proposed Sprague-Appleway corridor plan to some 45 builders, architects and real estate agents. Kuhta didn't catch a lot of bouquets, but he wasn't dodging rotten tomatoes, either.
The Constitution guarantees your right to ask a buddy for a dime, but not his willingness to listen. Especially not if you're standing at a Spokane Valley intersection with a "homeless and hungry" sign that causes some motorists to stop when others want to go.
Two international corporations will lay out proposals March 14 for making Spokane Valley's sewage among the cleanest in the nation. Spokane County officials will receive offers from Denver-based CH2M HILL and Paris-based Veolia Water for designing, building and operating a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant to process Spokane Valley wastewater.
Developers – or anyone else who's out of bed at 7:30 a.m. – can get a close look at Spokane Valley's proposed Sprague and Appleway corridors plan Friday. Mayor Richard Munson said he thinks developers will be pleased when city officials present the plan and take questions and comments in the first of several community meetings at City Hall, 11707 E. Sprague Ave., Suite 106.
One of Spokane Valley's founding city councilmen, Mike Flanigan, was to be remembered today in two services. The City Council rescheduled a special meeting so members could attend Flanigan's funeral at 2 p.m. at Thornhill Valley Chapel and a memorial service that will follow at University High School.
The Spokane Valley Fire Department had 197 calls from Jan. 3 to 9, including six structure fires. Fire Inspector Bill Clifford said all of the structure fires, including a chimney fire, were "fairly minor."
While a sidewalk-clogging snow fell Tuesday night, the Spokane Valley City Council wondered again whether its minimalist approach to snow removal is adequate. Councilman Dick Denenny was asked to find out with help from council members Gary Schimmels and Rose Dempsey.
Spokane County Assessor Ralph Baker thinks taxpayers should get a speedy resolution instead of a refund when he makes a mistake. County officials planned a meeting today to discuss Baker's proposal to process tax assessment appeals before disputed taxes are due.
Developer Lanzce Douglass is suing Spokane Valley over a required environmental study he says amounts to confiscation of his property. Douglass seeks unspecified damages, attorney fees and reversal of city hearing examiner Michael Dempsey's decision to require a full environmental impact statement on fire-related traffic issues in an 81-home planned-unit development southwest of 44th Avenue and Farr Road.
